AS Cardiff City prepare for Championship play-off battle against West Ham, we look at the form of the two teams over the past two months.

When Cardiff City faced West Ham on March 4, the Bluebirds appeared at their lowest ebb this season.

Just a week after the heartbreaking Carling Cup final defeat against Liverpool, Malky Mackay's side looked physically and mentally drained as they succumbed to a 2-0 home defeat in front of a live television audience.

The Bluebirds were outplayed by a star-studded Hammers side, with the doom-mongers predicting the play-off bid might be heading for the buffers.

At that stage, West Ham were still most people's tip for automatic promotion, having assembled easily the strongest looking Championship squad on paper.

Now, with the regular Championship season at an end, results since that day show both sides have followed an almost identical path heading into the play-offs.

Win, lose or draw...

As our chart shows, there is quite literally nothing to chose between the two sides in terms of form coming into the play-offs.

Both teams have won five, drawn seven and lost only one of their last 13 games since last crossing paths.

West Ham have the edge up front...

Those results have seen both teams collect 22 points from a possible 39 - a reasonable total that shows why the teams were good enough to secure a top six finish but not quite up to the standard required to make automatic promotion.

It is worth noting that over the same 13-game period, Championship winners Reading amassed 29 points, while second-placed Southampton took 27 points.

In terms of the Bluebirds and the Hammers, we can see West Ham's superior strike force has come to the fore, while Cardiff's defence has been the stronger.

West Ham have scored 28 goals in 13 matches, averaging more than two goals per game, while Cardiff have found the net just 16 times.

The Bluebirds, however, have conceded just 12 goals to West Ham's 16.

Same opponents, same results...

It is also interesting to note the opposition both sides have faced during those 13 games.

We can see below that the fixture lists have a striking similarity, with the opposition the same on nine of the 13 occassions.

What the bookies say....

Despite the identical form of the two teams, West Ham remain the bookies' favourites to beat Cardiff City and go on to win promotion to the Premier Leagie.

Indeed, Malky Mackay's side find themselves play-off undergogs this time around, with Birmingham and Blackpool also ahead in the betting order.

Unfancied outsiders? After previous years of high expectation and ultimate failure, you get the impression Malky Mackay will be more than happy with that label.